


Pietro Maximoff's death and other unnecessary things

by Liffis



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, I didn't write an essay because I'm still in ARGH NO WHEDON YOU DIDN'T mode, I word puked and it is not in order, Meta, it is likely this could be put into an essay with a superb structure, like...a real fullblown essay with all what an essay entails
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-27
Updated: 2015-05-27
Packaged: 2018-04-01 14:13:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,521
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4022866
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Liffis/pseuds/Liffis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A short breakdown on why exactly killing off Pietro in "Age of Ultron" was the laziest and worst killing-off of a character ever. Because as a write, I am face-palming so hard at the way Pietro Maximoff was killed in this movie. Just...no.</p><p>Also, I'm a liar. There are no other things. Just reasons and things why a dead Pietro Maximoff is a bad Pietro Maximoff characterisation after this movie. Cue this focusing only on the movie.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pietro Maximoff's death and other unnecessary things

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [What comes after](https://archiveofourown.org/works/4015882) by [Liffis](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Liffis/pseuds/Liffis). 



> In my other story, "What comes after", I write the obligatory character death fix-it, and I was joking about how I have a major bone to pick about Pietro's death and...well, this is this bone. Or at least partly this bone, because I am quite sure there is more to it than just this. But I was frustrated and let it all out, so it's not in order.  
> Also, kinda ironic this one here is longer than the first chapter of my other story, although I am by far putting more thoughts there than I do here.

What really irks me about Pietro's death is how sloppily it has been done. It serves no purpose, it does not fuel the plot nor motivate any actors. Yes, a dead Pietro will motivate Wanda, but even then, the moment of it has been badly chosen.  
As far as I remember, it has been after Clint's pep talk to Wanda – let's just assume the best case for Whedon's movie planning and say: okay, so Clint gave this pep talk to Pietro as well and Pietro agreed to become an Avenger as well. It's quite a far-fetched assumption, because Pietro never made any mentions that he wanted this as well and he didn't have the time to talk with Wanda about it, but let's just say he agreed. At least, he helped the civillians, so let's just assume this.  
So why was he killed off? At this moment, no less?  
It wasn't directly after the pep talk, so it couldn't have been a „See, Wanda, being good is costly, none of your cozy little cells – you are not being experimented on, but you have to pay, dearly even“ - Pietro's death would have had much much more impact if he had died around Wanda's agreement to Clint. Like, Pietro was killed off directly after Wanda agreed – literally the moment she stepped out to help Clint, Pietro dies. It would have been much more cruel that now that they could be free and freedom – from Strucker's experiments, from living in fear - is just in their hands, but only Wanda is able to grasp it. It would have set a nicer symmetry, too: Pietro, the nurturing and caring who took all the risks to protect his sister takes this one last price so she can be safe. He dies knowing his sister is in a better life and he was with her and made sure she'd reach the better life he always wanted for his sister.  
\- In that regard, it also would have made sense that Pietro dies for his sister. Like, he dies to protect her, but I'll come to the reasons of Pietro's death later.  
Another moment for Pietro's death could have been before the pep talk, although it would have been a worse thing for the development of Wanda's character. Although I do have to admit: a fucked-up and bad portrayal of female characters as bad clichés, combined with heavy sexism would be right up Whedon's alley – Pietro dying there would have played into that. Wanda would have seen/felt her brother die, and then Clint (or someone else, most likely another male Avenger) would have asked her to join the Avengers, and this scene could have been played as a man forcing Wanda to agree to something she cannot give consent in that moment because her brother died and she is in distress.  
Having Pietro die later, long after the pep talk, is just lazy writing to me, because what if Pietro didn't die? What would have changed? Nothing. Or, if anything, not much at all.  
Wanda had already joined the Avengers, so it seems likely she would have convinced Pietro to join as all, seeing as he is her twin, she is quite headstrong in convincing him, and he would not leave her on her own, especially not close to Tony. Also, Pietro surviving would have meant: another Avenger, which would have made a nicer picture in the end – more than just the few chosen second-row heroes would have looked nicer cineastically, too.  
Also, Pietro surviving would have also meant there would have been some serious fight against Tony's behaviour. I strongly disagree with Tony's portrayal in this movie; to me he seems self-centered, and the few chosen explanations – Wanda bringing up his darkest fears in him and in the end the all-was-well-looking happy end – don't cover his behaviour at all. But I won't go into detail why Tony annoys me so much (let's just say I've had it with male characters going 'meh, boys will be boys!' as an explanation). The thing is: if Pietro had survived, he and Wanda would have teamed up against Tony and would have given him some serious back talk, more than anyone else. Everyone else is just leaving Tony to his merry ways, not seriously contesting him, disagreeing vocally with him – yes, some minor fights about the How's of what needs to be done. But strong disagreeing that won't budge? No, because everyone else gets interrupted and the things are not talked out, not fought out. It just all simmers mutely, and Tony is allowed to go on. Pietro would have not stood for this and would have seriously spiced up the group's interactions. Maybe that's why he was killed off, who knows.  
Pietro surviving would have also meant a serious happy end for Wanda, too. She finally has what she wanted (minus the 'we're living in the house of our parents' murderer'), she is free for the first time in her life, she can live a life in nice living conditions, her brother is with her, they are not being experimented on. It could have been a happy end – which she didn't get, because it seems women in Whedon!verse don't deserve a happy end. The parallels to Natasha's movie arc are obvious; both her and Wanda lose someone close to them by some completely unfathomable, completely irrelevant and useless thing; there's not even an explanation given, nor a good and sound reason why both Pietro and Bruce are ushered offstage this way.  
Which brings me to the point of why Pietro was killed off. So yeah, he dies protecting Clint and the child – kudos for not making this a woman with a child to tick off the whole cliché – but whatever?? Yes, Clint had given Wanda the pep talk, but this is a far-fetched reason to protect him. Why Clint? There is no explanation – all interaction before, as I remember, was when Clint stunned Wanda, and then Pietro swore to kill him. Similarly, Clint is annoyed by Pietro and wants to put arrows in him. This potential for future ribbing and teasing is also nipped in the bud – but it still leaves the question why Clint was so important to kill Pietro over him. Or why Pietro is absolutely willing to lay down his life.  
This decision is inconsistent, because considering all Pietro had to endure in life beforehand, he just wouldn't do that, he'd consider his own survival the second most important thing to him, right after protecting Wanda. Again, it would have made more sense to tie his death more to Wanda, in that aspect.  
Also, there are no connections between Clint and Pietro. None at all. A few interactions, but surely nothing Pietro would decide to die over.  
But none of this is what really and utterly annoys me the uttermost – how he was killed off. It could have been literally everything, and Pietro could have died so many different hero deaths, but no, he had to die through bullets. Which is a good way as any, I reckon, but not this way.  
The whole movie Pietro was established as a super human with super speed who is so fast the human eye can't track him, who is fast enough to render everything around him in motionless static. He was able to pick an arrow out of air! This is fast enough to pick off bullets as well, or at least move around them. But let's say he is really keen on saving Clint and the boy. Fine and dandy and everything, but – why in the high heavens does he move a car to protect the two of them?  
The much more obvious and much more elegant solution has been shown earlier in the movie, even! Once, Pietro picks Wanda up and tells Clint something – sadly I don't remember much more -, so obviously this could have been the solution. Pietro picks them up and carries them out of the line of fire. Even claiming that both Clint and the boy are too heavy is everything but a sound reason. If Pietro picked them up and carried them although they are too heavy, he would have at least been able to carry them a few metres. It wouldn't have needed much more than that, because Ultron stopped firing directly after hitting Pietro in the movie. It is likely he would have stopped after that as well. So Pietro really would have only needed to cover a few metres, no more than ten, maybe twenty metres – but only one metre would have been crucial, so none would have been hit by Ultron's bullets. So for one metre, Pietro would have needed to be really quick, the other metres towards a car or the ruins a lesser speed would have still been sufficient.  
So the way he was killed off was just lazy by denying him solutions he himself enacted earlier in the movies, the reasons of his death was useless, the time of his death was not contributing to the story telling, and overall Pietro's death is just a mess.

**Author's Note:**

> What do we learn from this? Kill Pietro Maximoff and the fangirls focus on his death rather on other major issues in the movie.


End file.
